William Jasper Blackburn | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 5th district |
|
In office July 18, 1868 – March 3, 1869 |
|
Preceded by | First in new district |
Succeeded by | Frank Morey |
Louisiana State Senator from Claiborne Parish | |
In office 1874–1878 |
|
Mayor of Minden, Louisiana | |
In office May 1855 – May 1856 |
|
Succeeded by | A. B. George |
Personal details | |
Born |
Randolph County, Arkansas, USA |
July 24, 1820
Died | November 10, 1899 Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas |
(aged 79)
Resting place | Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock |
Political party | Democratic-turned-Republican |
Occupation | Newspaper publisher and printer |
(1) Publisher Blackburn switched his party affiliation to Republican because he opposed slavery and the secession of the Confederate States of America. (2) Blackburn was spared conviction — and automatic execution — by a one-vote margin of charges that he printed counterfeit Confederate currency. (3) After the return of Democratic Redeemer government in Louisiana in 1878, Blackburn soon returned to his native Arkansas, where he published the short-lived Arkansas Republican newspaper. (4) Blackburn served in the United States House of Representatives and the Louisiana State Senate as a Republican; earlier he was a Democratic mayor of Minden, Louisiana, from 1855 to 1856. (5) Blackburn launched the first paper to bear the name Minden Herald. |
(1) Publisher Blackburn switched his party affiliation to Republican because he opposed slavery and the secession of the Confederate States of America.
(2) Blackburn was spared conviction — and automatic execution — by a one-vote margin of charges that he printed counterfeit Confederate currency.
(3) After the return of Democratic Redeemer government in Louisiana in 1878, Blackburn soon returned to his native Arkansas, where he published the short-lived Arkansas Republican newspaper.
(4) Blackburn served in the United States House of Representatives and the Louisiana State Senate as a Republican; earlier he was a Democratic mayor of Minden, Louisiana, from 1855 to 1856.
William Jasper Blackburn (July 24, 1820 – November 10, 1899) was an American printer, publisher and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from northwestern Louisiana from July 18, 1868, to March 3, 1869. A Republican during Reconstruction, he was elected to the Louisiana State Senate, serving from 1874 to 1878.
Blackburn was born on the Fourche de Mau in Randolph County in northeastern Arkansas. He received his early education from his mother. In 1839, he moved to Batesville to learn his printing trade. He resided in Little Rock in 1845, in Fort Smith in western Arkansas in 1846, and moved to Minden, the seat of Webster Parish, in 1849. There he established the first of several subsequent newspapers to use the name Minden Herald, eventually known as the Minden Press-Herald in the 20th century.